Heroes
by Kikyo-the-Walnut
Summary: Princess Tanysa, protector of Brightvale, has been wounded. And Jeran will use any means possible to help her.
1. Prologue

Heroes

by Kikyo-the-Walnut

Prologue

Rating: PG

Disclaimer: I do not claim to own Neopets or any related indicia. And yes, I am aware of how pathetic that sounds.

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A blue Shoyru stood against a tree, her paws clutching a bow and arrow. Alertly she looked around the densely forested area, looking for some sign of intrusion. She saw none, but did not relax her grip on her weapon. She couldn't allow even one enemy into the kingdom. The Kingdom of Brightvale was too young, too new to be uprooted.

The night sky twinkled above her, and the stars glowed blue.

Nearby, a Lupe, rich purple in colour but with an exotic lavender marking on his hind leg, was also crouched behind a tree, eyeing the princess Shoyru and her petty bow. He was only about nine feet from her, yet he was cleverly concealed behind the tree, invisible to all but himself. He watched as her eyes darted about, looking directly at the tree he hid behind, and recalled his mistresses directions.

_Kill the Princess Tanysa,_ Jhudora had commanded from her cloud high in Faerieland. _Make sure she dies, and hurry. I cannot wait long, she is in the way. She must be destroyed, Calix._

Calix patted his own weapon, a shining silver dagger secured at the hip. _You will be rewarded handsomely._

Tanysa held her stance, waiting for something to happen.

Calix rushed out, his purple coat barely visible.

His dagger was hidden in the darkness. Only the shine of the metal gave it away. Purple metal.

Tanysa's eyes widened when she saw the metallic glint, and she knocked an arrow. She quickly let it go. And watched it speed to the target.

Calix only jumped to the left and continued his onslaught, and the arrow hit the dirt harmlessly. He reached within a foot of Tanysa and in the blink of an eye his dagger was out and stabbing Tanysa's leg.

Tanysa gasped, eyes widened even more, fell down. All in a few second's time.

Calix laughed, a cold, unfeeling laugh that made Tanysa shiver and grapple for her bow.

"And you call yourself the princess. The _expert_ with the bow." He taunted, looming over her.

Tanysa clutched her leg and glared at him, trembling with pain.

"Why would you seek to kill me?"

"I don't know," Calix barked gleefully. "None of my business. Mercenaries don't question the employer. They just _kill_. Why don't you go ask her yourself… Why not ask _Jhudora_?"

He laughed again and slipped out into the cover of the forest, paws muffled by the foliage and the blanket of night.

Tanysa whimpered, and looked at her leg. She started in surprise. The wound had already closed up, leaving no trace of its existence, and making her wonder if she'd been stabbed at all. What? She wondered.

She touched her leg thoughtfully, and looked around in the direction the Lupe had run off. Where was he now? Why had _Jhudora_ wanted to kill her? Or at least… _alter_ her?

She heard twigs snap behind her. She turned her head, still puzzled, and saw a Lupe—a different one—clad in armor rushing toward her.

"Jeran!" she called in relief.

"Tanysa, what happened?" Jeran demanded, leaning over. "Are you all right?"

"I'm not sure," Tanysa said, standing up. "A Lupe came out of the woods and stabbed me with a purple-ish colored blade… But the wound closed up almost immediately." She frowned at her leg. "The Lupe was strange, too." She told Jeran about the marking on his leg.

"Weird," Jeran muttered. Then he asked, "Can you walk?"

"I think so. Yes," Tanysa replied, taking a few steps. "I don't know what the purpose of that dagger was, but right now I'm fine!"

Jeran smiled, relieved that Tanysa was okay for the present. "Come on," he said. "Let's get back to Brightvale. I would have preferred Meridell, but it's too far away."

"You're right," Tanysa agreed. "Let's go."

Tanysa led the way, walking as though she was unharmed. Jeran walked close to her, ready to steady her if she fell, but she didn't so much as bobble. _If the dagger wound already closed up and Tanysa's all right,_ Jeran thought, _why did someone ambush her in the first place? _

"Tanysa! What are you doing back here? And Jeran! I thought you were patrolling the forest!" King Hagan of Brightvale exclaimed when Tanysa and Jeran came into the throne room. He'd been sleeping, but had been roused by the commotion Tanysa and Jeran had caused.

"I was, but Tanysa got wounded," Jeran informed him.

"Hurt? Tanysa?" Hagan looked Tanysa up and down.

"The wound closed up already," Tanysa explained. "I'm not sure—"

She stopped mid-sentence, and looked directly at Jeran. Her eyes became suddenly bright and her bow, which she'd kept with her, clattered to the floor.

"Tanysa, what is it?" Jeran demanded.

Tanysa didn't answer the question. Her pupils seemed to dilate and she started panting. As if she were having some internal struggle.

"Die, knight!" she shrieked at him suddenly, her voice unusually metallic. "Die! You're a threat to my rule over the land!"

"What?!" Hagan looked shocked. "Jeran, what's happening?"

"I don't know!" Jeran didn't take his eyes off Tanysa, who had notched her bow and was pointing it at him.

"Your legacy, warrior. It ends now!" Tanysa unloosed her bow. The arrow flew threw the air, aiming for Jeran's heart.

Jeran braced himself against the marble floor. The arrow whizzed closer.

He caught it in midair, with both hands, and breathed heavily. Panting, he stared at the Shoyru.

"Tanysa, I always trusted you…" he began. He drew his sword.

Suddenly Tanysa stopped knocking another arrow. Her bow fell with a clatter to the floor. She blinked.

"Jeran, what was I d-doing?" she cried out, in a more normal voice. "Was I… trying to hit you?" She motioned to her bow.

"Yes," Jeran said suspiciously, slowly sheathing his sword.

"How could I have done that?!" Tanysa looked wide-eyed. "I _couldn't_ have done that. I _couldn't_."

"You just did," Jeran told her.

"Tanysa!" Hagan interrupted loudly. "Tanysa, you were a Protector of Brightvale. You were until you turned on your own kingdom. You were until you sided with an unknown, evil force. _You were until now._"

"I didn't do it!" Tanysa insisted. "Something _made _me!"

"Nonsense," Hagan said, just as Jeran exclaimed, "That wound!" "You have spiritual powers," Hagan continued angrily. "And those powers would negate a curse, wouldn't they? Into the dungeon. Guards!" He motioned for two armed Skeiths to handcuff Tanysa.

"Sire, she didn't—" Jeran began.

"And you! I bet you were involved somehow!" Hagan roared. "All a plot to overthrow my kingdom! I don't want you to set foot in Brightvale again!"

Jeran and Tanysa stared at each other as they were each dragged away. Tanysa tried to struggle free of the Skeiths, but they overwhelmed her. Her bow lay uselessly some five feet away.

Overhead, the stars twinkled brighter.

"My lord Skarl, I bring uneventful tidings," Jeran reported to his King the next day. His sword was sheathed at his hip.

"Yes? What is it?" King Skarl asked, sounding bored.

"Princess Tanysa of Brightvale. She's in the Hagan's dungeon," Jeran said sadly.

"Princess Tanysa? Isn't she the protector of Brightvale?" Skarl queried. At Jeran's nod, he continued, "How can she be in a dungeon?"

"I'm not sure," Jeran said guardedly. "She's been poisoned somehow. Something about a purple blade…"

"Such a blade is highly unusual," Skarl's advisor, a green Draik, commented. "I think I've read something about that."

"Really?" Jeran asked hopefully.

"Yes. Assassins dip their blades in poison. The poison will kill in a few days, as I recall… about six, I'd guess."

"Six?" Jeran almost yelled, alarmed. "Does anything negate its effects?"

"Yes. A blue Draik's scale will slow the poisoning," the Draik said stoically.

_I have to help Tanysa!_ Jeran thought.

"I must leave, sire," he said simply.

"Tanysa!" Jeran hissed, through the bars of the Shoyru's prison cell. The window of the prison cell, actually; he'd snuck in through the back of Hagan's castle, intent on not being seen. He was lucky that Hagan's "dungeon" was actually on ground level, or he would have had a much harder time.

"Jeran! What are you doing here?" Tanysa rushed to the window. She looked considerably worse than when Jeran had last seen her, only a few days ago. Her eyes were feverish, and her skin looked warm.

"I brought you something, for the wound," Jeran whispered. Carefully, he brought out the Draik scale he'd purchased at the market, and unwrapped the coarse linen around it. He held it through the iron bars. "Press it against the wound. It'll help."

Tanysa nodded, and accepted the scale. She held it against her wound for a few seconds. Presently the flush in her face cooled a bit, and she looked altogether calmer.

"Thank you," she said softly. "This'll help whenever I… whenever _Jhudora_ possesses me."

"Jhudora? You sure?" Jeran asked.

"Yes," Tanysa said with a nod, "Fairly positive, the Lupe who attacked me mentioned her… and I hear her voice ringing through my head sometimes. But that means the only way for my wound to really heal…" she paused. "The only way for my wound to heal… is for someone to defeat Jhudora. Or at least drain her powers."

Jeran stared. "Are you sure that's the only way…?" When Tanysa nodded again, he commented, "But that's impossible, right?"

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Author's Notes: Hmm… well, please review!


	2. Chapter 1

Heroes

By: Kikyo-the-Walnut

Rated: PG

Disclaimer: Same as the last chapter, kay?

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Only a few miles away from King Hagan's castle, a purple Lupe sat under the same starry sky. He was an ordinary Lupe, albeit the fact that he had an unusual lavender swirl on his left hind leg; which was not characteristic of any Neopet. He wistfully looked up into the shining stars, as if trying to memorize the exact appearance of each one. He looked at the endless, dark swirl of the stars' backdrop, before he fell asleep next to his sister.

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Before I start my story, I should tell you about myself. My name is Calix. Nothing exciting or regal about my name. I was born a Meridell peasant and hope to die one.

My parents died when I was only three years old. I've lived on my own since, with my five-year-old sister, a Faerie Poogle named Maxie. We survive on our own very well; I'm a mercenary, that is, I get paid to do other Neopet's dirty work. Normally I can secure two or three jobs a week, so I can always bring home food.

I'm not mean, really. Just defensive. I'm a mercenary because I have to be; really, I wouldn't like to harm anyone. I act tough when I work, though, because I have to. You can't act soft in my field of work.

Anyway, for a few years, the system worked fine: I'd be out job-hunting most of the day, then in the evening stop, hunt down some food, and bring it home, to the abandoned farmer's field Maxie and I shared. Until one day, when a "job" brought me all the way to Faerieland. To Jhudora, the Dark Faerie herself. I wasn't thrilled about helping such an evil faerie, but she'd promised to pay me quite a lot.

I'd done the job—I'd wounded some Shoyru with a dagger she'd given me—and then I'd returned home. Today, I would collect my earnings.

"Maxie," I told my sister, handing her a few days' worth of Neopoints, "Take care of yourself, hear? You can buy food at the shop whenever you're hungry. And until I get back, sleep under tall grass at all times. Never let any other Neopet notice you're by yourself."

"All right, Calix," Maxie said agreeably, taking the Neopoints and tucking them away into her sash. "Be safe."

"You don't have to worry about me," I told her. "I'll be fine."

"Okay," Maxie replied. "Well, bye then."

"Bye," I said with a nod. I turned and scampered off into the woods, in the direction of Faerieland. That was one thing I could say for myself, I guess: I had a good sense of direction.

It would be a long trip, I knew, over five hundred miles. I'd packed a knapsack with food and money, however, so I wouldn't have to worry about cost. I'd be taking a ferry most of the journey, anyway. As I thought that, I instinctively gripped the ticket I'd bought a few days prior. It was still safely in my satchel as I'd left it.

As I bounded past various trees and bushes, all extremely lush and green because of the rainy season Meridell was going through, I became aware of a loud noise to the west. It was a combination of trumpets blaring, leaves crunching, and Neopets shouting.

Probably Meridell's army, marching through, I thought. I slowed down to a trot, then a halt. I crouched behind a boulder so I could watch.

"Come on, men! March!" I heard an Eyrie call. They were definitely coming closer, I could tell.

Suddenly, they burst into the clearing I was in. I almost gasped, then stopped myself: the army was amazing.

There were about half a doTanysa Shoyrus wearing matching red and gold-trimmed uniforms, blowing into their trumpets. The leader, a blue Eyrie, was wearing full captain regalia—the stiff, pressed hat, the button-up coat, the polished boots, and the sword at the hip. The troop itself were all in uniform khaki, standing six abreast and seven deep. They all looked alert, aware, and professional.

"Halt!" the Eyrie called suddenly. The Neopets all stopped abruptly, never losing rank. _Why was he stopping?_ I wondered.

"There is someone here," the Eyrie announced, cupping his hand to his ear. I stiffened. Did he notice me? I had hoped not to be seen, for it was standard practice for the military to question and return any travelers without a visa they saw to the castle. I had no permit.

As if he'd read my thoughts, the Eyrie marched over to the boulder I hid behind. He looked directly at me, with a hard, steely gaze.

"Why were you hiding?" he asked me in a hard voice, a voice that matched his eyes.

"I was watching you," I told him noncommittally, my voice quivering.

"Indeed? From behind a rock?" the Eyrie asked skeptically. "Let me see your visa."

I winced. I'd hoped he wouldn't ask that. "I... I don't have one," I admitted, looking down mournfully. Maybe he would have pity on me?

He didn't. "Well, you'll have to come to the castle to get one," the Eyrie said, flexing his wings, "So come with us. My name is Shega, by the way, but if you want to address me, it's Captain."

It was exactly as I'd predicted. I'd be delayed days, possibly weeks, and Maxie would run out of Neopoints soon. Just great, I thought. Dejectedly I followed him and took a place at the back of the regiment, head bowed.

"Turn around!" the Eyrie shouted without further ado. In unison, everyone except me made a sharp one hundred-eighty degree turn. After I realized what was happening, I followed suit more slowly, earning disapproving looks from the contingent.

We marched a few miles west, back to the castle. I tagged along, unsure as of where to walk. Certainly the soldiers didn't accept me as one of them; if I tried to join their ranks, they would push me out of the way and keep walking.

I couldn't help but worry about the reward, too. Would Jhudora still give it to me if I was late? Would she put a curse, or something equally as vile, on me if I still turned up?

Nevertheless, I was more worried about my sister. Could she survive on her own when her Neopoint supply ran dry? I'd only given her enough for a day or two, perhaps one more. Would she come looking for me?

When we reached the castle, Shega halted the troops and strode to the giant wooden door. He quickly slapped the brass knocker against the door a few times, then waited.

Slowly the door creaked open, and a uniformed Skeith bowed to us as we entered neatly and still in formation. Once Shega had made sure we'd all fit through the doorway, he told us to stop. The Skeith closed the door with a thud.

We waited for five, maybe ten minutes for King Skarl to turn his attention to us. I started to become fidgety from standing in one place in half the time. Was this how Skarl always was?

Finally, the King slowly, deliberately turned his head toward us, and nodded deeply. Shega saluted.

"Any news, Captain?" Skarl asked, talking very slowly.

"No." In contrast to King Skarl's unhurried voice, Shega's was sharp and quick. "But we did find this Lupe here, who was traveling without a proper visa." He motioned to me, and I hesitantly stepped forward.

"I see," Skarl said. "And why didn't you have authorization?" he asked, looking at me.

"Well... I didn't have time," I told him. I didn't mention that I didn't have enough Neopoints for a permit, anyway.

"I see," the King said again. "Well, you can purchase one legally in the morning. For the night, stay at the castle."

"But I was sort of in a hurry..." I explained nervously.

"Well, I'm sorry, but you have to stay here," Skarl said with finality. "It's for your own good. Marta will show you to your room."

He motioned to a red Ixi, who scurried up to me and bowed. "Right this way, sir," he said politely.

He led me up a flight of stairs, to a wing of the castle marked "Guests", and to a crude wooden door.

"Here," he said. "Enjoy your stay."

"Yeah, right," I muttered when the Ixi scampered away. Grumbling, I opened the door, revealing a simple wood-furnished bedroom complete with a bed, toiletries, and a fire pit to cook meals. Shelves freshly stocked with food adorned the walls.

I plopped down on the bed disgustedly. Here I was, enjoying a real bed for once, while my baby sister was stuck sleeping in a grubby field. Scowling, I grabbed a banana from the fruit bowl, peeled it, and took a bite. When I was done, I threw the empty peel into the garbage.

Suddenly I heard a voice from King Skarl's throne room, someone shouting. I opened the door and listened harder.

"Sire, is there any other way you can help Princess Tanysa? Can you talk with your brother or something?"

"I told you, Jeran, no. I usually don't talk with King Hagan that much."

"You mean you can't, just because you have a grudge against him?"

"What good would it do? He wouldn't listen. He has too high of an opinion of himself, anyway."

"I guess so." The voice seemed a little calmer.

"We can talk more in the morning, Jeran."

"Right."

The conversation ended, and I heard footsteps. Coming toward me. I hastily shut the door so no one knew I'd been eavesdropping, but—

"Hey!" a blue Lupe—Jeran—had seen me. He walked down the hallway to my door and opened it wider.

"I can explain—" I began, although really I couldn't.

"I don't want excuses," Jeran snapped, looking angrily. "How much did you hear?"

"Well—something about a Shoyru named Tanysa..." I stammered. Jeran didn't look happy.

"And... and she got stabbed with a poisoned dagger, right?" I asked with dread, knowing the answer. She was the one Jhudora had targeted... the one _I_ had targeted.

"How do you know?" Jeran asked suspiciously.

Oops. I couldn't let him know I'd done it; he probably wouldn't take it lightly. I mean, this was _Jeran_, the famous Meridellian knight!

"Well, I heard about it from... um..." I said uncomfortably. Jeran looked me in the eyes, and I looked away.

"You seem to know an awful lot," he said, narrowing his eyes. "You did it, didn't you?"

"No!" I squeaked. "No, I—"

But I was cut off. Jeran was shouting again.

"Why did you do it? You'd better have a good reason to harm Tanysa!"

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Author's Notes: Oooh! Jeran got MAD! Heh, something tells me he has FEELINGS for Tanysa! Ooooooooooooh... Tsk, tsk. Anyway, me likey if you review!


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